Robot tumbleweed gathers data on halting desert expansion

This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired
magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before
they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional
content bysubscribing
online.

Tumbleweed is usually a sign of desolation, but it has inspired
an Israeli designer as a way to revivify barren landscapes. Shlomi
Mir's Tumbleweed Desert is an autonomous
robot that uses the wind for propulsion. "We don't know much about
how deserts spread and how dunes move," says Mir. "We need more
information in order to develop algorithms to predict where the
next problems will be -- and how it's possible to fix them."

In its current prototype form, Tumbleweed Desert gathers that
data and transmits it home (a kinetic generator powers the
communications equipment). Although the device can't control its
direction, it can decide when to move: to stay put, it adopts a
squashed shape. When it wants to go with the flow, it expands into
a ball and catches the breeze.

Mir, who previously developed bomb-dismantling robots for the
Israeli army, is now creating a simpler, more rugged version. In
2014 he will experiment with 20 devices scattered in the field, but
he envisages hundreds of Tumbleweeds to map out larger territories.
Ultimately, he hopes the project could halt desertification by
ejecting plant-seeds in strategic locations. "Or maybe someone will
invent a nanobot that eats sand and converts it into fertiliser,"
Mir says. "Tumbleweed Desert is just a tool."